John Gill in his Exposition of the Entire Bible comments on
Jesus’ statement in John 14:6 concerning being “the life” by saying, “Christ
is the author and the giver of life, natural, spiritual and eternal; or he is
the way of life, or the living way in opposition to the law which was so far
from being the way of life, that it was the ministration of condemnation and
death…” I was impressed first off by the
thought of Jesus as “the living way,” and
secondly when I saw that everything else in the world is so far away from being
the way of life. Jesus is alive and well
and is wanting to experience and guide us through every situation that occurs
in our daily lives, no mater how unsettling or unusual they may be.
Last weekend our satellite service offered free access to
one set of premium movie channels. I
decided to take advantage of the offer and went through the listings for the
three day period and set the DVR to record about a half a dozen movies that
looked interesting. One of the movies
was a 1980 remake of “Flash Gordon.” The movie is about the action comic book
series that was first published in 1934.
Last night we decided to check it out and watched (or better said… fast-forwarded through the majority of) the production. The flick was intentionally made using a “camp style” similar to the 1960’s
Batman TV series. The definition of “camp style” is “an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing or
humorous because of it’s ridiculousness to the viewer.” *
And let me tell you that this movie totally met that
definition! The acting, sets and
situations seemed to be styled after the mid to late 1930 serials that preceded
the main attractions shown in the movie theaters at that time. When you combined that with the 1980’s
synthesized music scores, the effect was very funny and completely out of touch
with any sense of reality! Like I said,
we had a good laugh, but fast forwarded through most of the movie as I really
didn’t want to waste our time!
This morning as I studied Jesus as “the living way,” I was impressed with how He is in complete step
with the reality of our daily lives. He
is alive and in tune to the ever changing needs of our society. Then I considered how crazy or you might say
ridiculous everything happening in the world around us is in comparison to
astuteness of Jesus and His living Word.
Colossians 3:1 declares “Since you
were brought back to life with Christ, focus on the things that are above –
where Christ holds the highest position.” (God’s Word ©)
Here the Apostle Paul is encouraging us to keep our eyes on Jesus and
His Word and not on the dictates and events that are occurring in the natural
sphere of our lives.
I am sure that all of you, like me, have been appalled at
the recent events occurring in Boston ,
and the multiple mass shootings that happened over the last year or so. These things just seem so wrong, so confusing
and so ridiculously opposite the way of God.
And the truth of the matter is that they are! They are manifestations directed by the god
of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). These
events are situations that can rock the very core of our existence and faith if
we let them. But we are told to focus
our attention on “the things that are
above” where Jesus is in total control!
He is the ONLY one that brings life into the
situations we face. He is our foundation
and safe haven in the rocky and confusing times we are seeing today. He is the One to make sense in the midst of
the things that we might question or be tempted to be shaken by. He is “the
living way!” He’s been with us in
the past, is there at our side today, and will be there for us in our
tomorrows. There have been many times in
the past 3 or 4 years where this understanding has been the ONLY thing that has
helped me through the day!
So don’t allow the confusing events happening around us to
take your focus off the One who is ultimately in charge of us! Pray for those in need. Take time to reach out with a helping hand, a
kind word or maybe just a hug of reassurance.
Then share the comfort of your firm foundation in shaky times and allow
the love and the grace and the peace of Jesus to prevail all around you!
Have a great weekend.
Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your thoughts are welcomed. Please keep them within the context and flavor of this blog.